Sabrina Weiss

On 11/12 January 2018, we held the inaugural conference on the future of legal services . This event emerged from a “back of the envelope” sketch at a coffee break at Harvard Law School in 2017. Leo Staub, John Flood and Peter Lederer were there for the LawWithoutWalls kickoff. They were talking about the changes facing the world of law. While there is an abundance of lectures, papers, and hackathons, there is rarely a chance to simply have an extended dialogue. They decided to change that – and here we are! An amazing group from the cutting edge in academia, corporate and legal practice, and the world of alternative legal service providers gathered in St. Gallen and contributed their thoughts on the developments in legal service that we are facing. This publication shares the insights gathered during these few valuable days.

The 2nd Conference on the Future of Legal Services kicked off on Tuesday 16 April 2019. Experts from academia and practice met at the University of Miami School of Law in the Newman Alumni Center.

Dr Michael Smets is Associate Professor of Management and Organization Studies at the Saïd Business School and a Fellow of Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford, where he also obtained his doctorate. For the past 15 years he has specialized in studying and advising professional service firms. He especially focuses on internationalization, innovation and partner development. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Professions and Organization, on the advisory board of Business Law Magazine, and on the expert panel for the German Legal Innovation Award. Michael’s research has appeared in leading management journals and practitioner publications; it has also been covered by the Financial Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, CNN, CNBC, the Guardian and the Economist. Thinkers50 consider Michael “the up and coming voice of leadership” and have included him in their “Radar” list of 30 emerging scholars to watch in 2019.

Interview with Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna, who talks about change and disruption in the legal world. Dr. iur. Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna, MBA, is a partner at PwC in Zurich, Leader of PwC Legal Switzerland, a member of PwC’s Global Legal Leadership Team and PwC’s Global LegalTech Leader.

Following up on my colleague’s blog entry from last year, elaborating on the LWOW – LawWithoutWalls-Kickoff at the University of St. Gallen, the following blog entry will explore this year’s LWOW Conposium in Miami.